Commissioners discussed payroll issues, county IT updates, and leasing vehicles for the Sheriff’s department, as well as the noise resolution in their Oct. 27 meeting.
After regular opening exercises, the approval of minutes for: 09.22.25, 09.23.25, 09.26.25, 09.29.25, 10.06.25, 10.14.25,
10.20.25, 10.22.25 was held up, as Commissioner Mika Milburn had several corrections.
Tran also had some corrections for 9/26/25 and 10/22/25.
Sign 10.20.25 approved minutes for 09.15.25, 09.16.25, 10.07.25
These minutes were gone over in the last meeting. Minutes were approved.
Sign 10.20.25 adopted Resolution 34-25 Meeting Rules
Repeals resolutions 1025, 1125, and 2526. Was approved with Milburn against.
State Rep Rick James — Noise Resolution
James, who represents District 4, commented to the commission about the proposed noise resolution.
“I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t know how it’s going to be enforced,” he said. He said that noise issues are usually handled in civil court.
Planning and zoning are so important, he said, giving citizens an opportunity to have a say in what goes on in their county. Working together to create the regulations creates a more informed population.
“It’s so important to have some kind of regulation in the county,” he said. Not having regulations allows outsiders to come in and do what they want without recourse.
“I really feel that something needs to be done, and planning and zoning would really help [the commission do their job],” he said.
Milburn pointed out that the situation in Lynn County was different than it is in Bourbon County because they had zoning before the noise issues arose.
Payroll Discussion with Payentry
Tim Emerson, managing member for Emerson and Co., was contracted by the county to help with payroll, and he addressed the commission, along with Cassie Johnson of Payentry by phone.
“If I were the commissioners, I would be very concerned based on those comments,” he said of what County Clerk Susan Walker and Assistant Clerk Jennifer Hawkins shared with the commission last week.
Emerson said Dr. Steve Cohen of the county’s HR reached out to him in July to ask for help. Emerson then spoke with the commissioners to find out what the situation was, and believed his company could help in Bourbon County as they had in other counties. The county’s agreement with Payentry has been in place since August 26.
Emerson claimed direct accountability for his employees and the contractors his company works with.
“Clearly this county is hurting. It’s not unique,” he said. Everyone is hurting right now.
He then expressed concern with the intentions of the clerk and assistant clerk, saying they don’t appear to be collaborating with the people that are put in place to help with the change to Payentry. He said their comments were short on facts, and he questioned the timing of those comments.
He said that Payentry is ready to take over payroll for the county as soon as the county provides some needed documentation.
Outstanding items needed to set up Payentry are extensive, and they are not getting the engagement from the county that they typically would when they handle a payroll, said Emerson.
He then read through a list of the training supplied by Payentry and the varied levels of engagement the county clerk’s office provided for those trainings.
He also said the software is highly customizable and people cannot change their position or salary. That idea is “absurd,” he said.
Commissioner Samuel Tran asked what would happen if they don’t execute the contract by the first of the year.
Emerson said it sends a message of distrust to the employees, and leads to a loss of historical data for 2025 as well as the need to re-onboard the county all over again starting in 2026.
Cassie Johnson, over the phone, said they have been asked to leave the punch clock module open by Bourbon County, allowing employees to edit their time sheets. This would not affect pay and would be reviewed by each employee’s supervisor before payroll is approved.
Another option is to lock down that area, requiring edits to be made by supervisors or managers. Best practices is to not to allow employees full access to their time sheets, she said.
Tran asked what the biggest limiting factor in implementing the contract is.
Emerson said that they are ready to go on his end, but they need additional information provided by the county, including details of how the blended overtime works. The goal is to automate that as much as possible.
Cassie estimated that they can get it up and running by the end of the week if they get the information from the county. She said the information should be something that’s readily available to the clerk. She thought it would take a few hours.
Tran expressed frustration that it has taken so long to make the change.
Clerk Susan Walker wanted to clarify some information, but Beerbower denied her that opportunity, requesting that she answer the question about how much time she will need to send the required information to Payentry. He said she had her say last week, and this week, Emerson’s group had theirs.
Walker said she has elections and taxes going on right now, and one of her employees is only part-time. She said it would take her more than a week to get the information.
Emerson questioned the integrity of how long it’s going to take.
Beerbower said he can’t get a timeline to Emerson right now because he isn’t getting the answers he needs from the clerk.
“We are committed to working with you,” said Beerbower.
Walker said in the last meeting she was told to take the time she needed. When she tried to bring up more issues, Beerbower shut her down, saying the commission isn’t going to rehash it again.
Walker then threatened to “go to the media” and walked out.
Tran said everyone has challenges, but as members of the county, they have to work together to move through those challenges. “Putting up roadblocks is not working together,” he said. He asked for a deadline on the eight items needed by payroll.
Beerbower moved to set a date of Nov. 3 for the clerk to have the documentation to Payentry. County Councilor Bob Johnson said they can direct her to do it, but she’s an elected official in her own right, and they can’t make her. He recommended a discussion once emotions calm down. The motion passed.
Consent Agenda
• Approval of 10.24.25 Accounts Payable that was sent for review to the Commission on 10.24.25 (not
mailed until approved on 10.27.25) – Accounts Payable $74,810.79
• September 2025 Financials
• 3rd Quarter Financial Publication Approval
Tran said he noticed EMS is down $103,000. Part of that is due to the holdup of Medicare and Medicaid payments. Walker addressed the issue, saying they should be very concerned, and if they don’t meet the target by the end of the year, it has to be covered by the general fund.
He recommended that the other commissioners review the document.
The commission approved the consent agenda, Milburn voting against because of her objection to the timeline for when the commission receives the consent agenda. Milburn offered to check with other counties to see how much time they get.
Walker said accounts payable go out to the commissioners on Friday mornings, and payroll is distributed to them on the Wednesday before.
Tran pointed out that working for the county is a dynamic job and requires rolling with the punches.
Public Comments for Items Not on The Agenda
Clint Walker — Road and Bridge/Public Works
“I want to give a big kudos to public works for being so professional and doing such a good job,” he said of the work they did trimming trees near his property.
Susan Walker — 911 addresses and flood plan questions
Her office is receiving requests for 911 addresses as well as flood plane management. That is not something her office does, but is done by Emergency Management.
The county is working on replacing the emergency manager.
Old Business
Technology Discussion with Sheriff and Stronghold
Stronghold is the current IT service for Bourbon County. They have a 6-month contract and are working to update and secure the county’s network. The next step in that process is updating switches at Sheriff’s office.
A representative from Stronghold came to update the county on their progress with updates. He said the $11,300 covers more than just the switches at the sheriff’s office. Stronghold would replace unmanaged switches throughout the county with managed switches. While it is possible to have end-of-life switches in the network, in order to segregate each department, the switches need to be replaced.
Commissioner Mika Milburn supported their recommendation as the contracted service for the county’s IT.
Sheriff asked for a breakdown of cost by department. Stronghold offered to do that. They advised that to separate the Sheriff’s department out fully from the county would take a new firewall with a yearly licensing cost of $3,000-$5,000.
Commissioner Samuel Tran said that monetarily, it makes more sense to use Stronghold’s recommendation, with the caveat of coming back to the issue in future as changes are needed.
Chelsea, project manager for Stronghold, said they are 26% of the way through the project after 45 days. They are awaiting approval of the switch change order to keep moving forward.
Stronghold also asked the commission for direction about who should be given access to various parts of the county’s system. Tran agreed that the commission should formalize that process and provide oversight for who gets what access.
Stronghold also suggested that the commission get input from the Stronghold consulting team on any software purchases, which is included in their agreement with the county.
Milburn moved that they go forward with Stronghold’s request to make the hardware updates or changes. Motion carried.
Vehicle Lease Program – Sheriff
Sheriff Bill Martin said that jail sales tax money can be used for maintenance of county buildings, to pay down the bond debt, and for operations of the sheriff’s office and the jail. It cannot be used for salaries or anything outside the scope. Martin wants to use it to pay for cars for his department through the Enterprise leasing program. He also reminded the commission that it is their responsibility, per statute, to provide cars for the sheriff’s office members to do their jobs.
Martin pointed out that the three most important things they need for the job are food, transportation, and communication.
He asked what it’s going to take for the commission to make the decision.
Beerbower asked for the comparable price for the first 5 years of leasing on 7, 8, or 11 vehicles. He said they are deciding on a long-term plan. “If we’re not going to do it, then we have to decide how we’re going to outfit his fleet that could lose as many as 8 vehicles in the next 2 years,” he said.
It will be late spring of 2026 before the new cars are available for the county.
After discussing numbers that didn’t match up for a while, the sheriff asked to step back and get his numbers together, then send all the information to the commission.
Milburn wanted the cost of maintenance included. Tran asked them to include information covering the highest cost for the extra equipment in the totals.
They will bring it back next week.
